Abstract
This and the following chapter are devoted to a complex subject which ties together three different fields: astrometry, geophysics and celestial mechanics. The earth provides the basic frame of reference with respect to which most of our celestial observations are made: the determination of its (variable!) rotation with respect to the stars and the planets is a prerequisite of astrometry, the discipline that determines the position and the motion of celestial objects. This is of course connected with the fundamental problem of absolute rotation in mechanics. This chapter is also an appropriate place to introduce the problem of measurement of time and distance in space physics. Rotation produces an oblateness and at the same time is affected by the internal motion of the planet, an important chapter of geophysics. The presence of other bodies in the solar system also deeply influences the structure and the rotation of the earth through tidal phenomena.
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Further Readings
The classical textbook on rigid rotation is E.J. Routh, Advanced Dynamics of a System of Rigid Bodies, Dover Editions (1955).
On the earth’s rotation an old, but still good book is W.H. Munk and G.J.F. Macdonald, The Rotation of the Earth. A Geophysical Discussion, Cambridge University Press (1960).
More recent and complete is K. Lambeck, The Earth’s Variable Rotation: Geophysical Causes and Consequences, Cambridge University Press (1980); see also Reference Frames in Astronomy and Geophysics (J. Kovalevsky, I.I. Mueller and B. Kolaczek, eds.), Kluwer (1989). The International Astronomical Union periodically sponsors Colloquia relevant to this topic:
D.D. McCarthy and J.D. Pilkington, eds., Time and the Earth Rotation, Reidel (1979);
E.M. Gaposchkin and B. Kolaczek, eds., Reference Coordinate Systems for Earth Dynamics, Reidel (1981);
J. Kovalevsky, ed., Reference Systems, Reidel (1988). On the subject of Sec.3.4 (figures of rapidly rotating self-gravitating bodies),
see S. Chandrasekhar, Ellipsoidal Figures of Equilibrium, Yale University Press (1969).
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© 1990 Kluwer Academic Publishers
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Bertotti, B., Farinella, P. (1990). The Rotation of the Earth and Other Planets. In: Physics of the Earth and the Solar System. Geophysics and Astrophysics Monographs, vol 31. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1916-7_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1916-7_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-7355-4
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